Enrollment workflow failed: AlternativeBusinessContact is required.”

Question

Hello,

I am encountering an error while creating my Microsoft Developer account.

The process fails with the message: “Enrollment workflow failed: AlternativeBusinessContact is required.”

I could not find where to enter this information. Could you please guide me on how to resolve this issue?

Thank you.

Answer 1

The error indicates that the enrollment flow expects an additional business contact (an “AlternativeBusinessContact”) as part of the verification and vetting information for a company developer account in Partner Center.

To resolve it, ensure that all required business and contact fields are completed in the Partner Center account setup and legal info pages, especially any secondary/alternative contact fields:

1. Go to Partner Center and sign in with the account used for the developer enrollment.
2. Navigate to Account settings:
   • For developer account creation: use the registration and account settings pages described under Steps to open company account.
   • For verification details: go to Account settings > Legal Info.
3. In the registration / account details flow, verify that:
   • Primary business contact information is fully filled in (name, email, phone, address).
   • Any additional approver/alternative contact fields are filled in. In the company account flow, there is a step to “enter the name, email address, and phone number of the person who will approve your company's account.” Treat this as the alternative business contact and ensure it is not left blank.
4. On the Legal Info page, confirm that all required contact and business fields are completed and correctly formatted (for example, valid email format, required address fields, etc.). If the Save button is disabled, correct any formatting issues and save again.
5. If the account has already reached the vetting stage and shows a rejection or incomplete status, use the Fix now button in Account settings | Legal Info to provide any missing documentation or contact details, then resubmit.
6. After updating the information, retry the enrollment workflow.

If the error persists even after all visible contact fields are completed, use the Partner Center support channel from within the dashboard to open a support request, as the backend may still be expecting a missing alternative contact field that is not clearly surfaced in the UI.

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References:

• Steps to open a developer account
• What is the “Know Your Business Customer” requirement for company accounts?
• Verify your account information when you enroll in a new Partner Center program
• Registration